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Saturday, July 24, 2010

The Supreme Court has slammed the Government for clubbing housewives with prostitutes, beggars and prisoners in the Census and describing them as economically non-productive workers. SC has said that housewives are employees and their ‘gratuitous’ services to their husbands and children can not be taken for granted.

Slamming the government’s “insensitive approach”, the court said Parliament should revisit the Motor Vehicles Act and matrimonial laws to remove the existing “gender bias”, sources said.

"This bias is shockingly prevalent in the work of Census. In the Census of 2001 it appears that those who are doing household duties like cooking, cleaning of utensils, looking after children, fetching water, collecting firewood have been categorized as non-workers and equated with beggars, prostitutes and prisoners who, according to Census, are not engaged in economically productive work.”

"As a result of such categorization about 36 crores (367 million) women in India have been classified in the Census of India, 2001 as non-workers and placed in the category of beggars, prostitutes and prisoners," the apex court observed.

"A wife/mother does not work by the clock. She is in constant attendance of the family throughout the day and night unless she is employed and is required to attend the employer`s work for particular hours. She takes care of all the requirements of husband and children including cooking of food, washing of clothes, etc. She teaches small children and provides invaluable guidance to them for their future life,"the apex court said.

A bench of justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly reversed an Allahabad High Court verdict that awarded Rs 2.5 lakh to the family of a woman killed in a road accident because the victim was just a housewife.

The court had considered the victim’s monthly income as Rs 1,250 and put her in the category of non-workers. SC increased the compensation to Rs 6 lakh and asked the insurance company to pay Rs 50,000 to the family.